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A.J. Allmendinger: The comeback begins -- really

January 6, 2013

A.J. Allmendinger has gone from a dream opportunity with Penske Racing to an uncertain racing future in less than a year. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

It was A.J. Allmendinger's bad luck that he was the fastest of the dozens of drivers on the first day of testing for the Rolex 24 Hours sports car endurance race at Daytona International Speedway, two weeks away.

Certainly Allmendinger was pleased to be the fastest, and it was no surprise, as he's part of the defending-champion Michael Shank Racing team, driving the same Ford-Riley combination that took them to victory in 2012.

But there it was on the official test schedule: The fastest driver of the day would be required to speak to the media after testing was completed.

Allmendinger used to relish his time with the media. Now, not so much. Not after what happened here at Daytona seven months ago -- when he was spirited away from the track, from his ride in the Penske Racing Dodge in the Coke Zero 400 the evening of July 7, after failing a NASCAR-administered random drug test.

Allmendinger started 2012 in the No. 22 for Penske Racing. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

It was weeks before Allmendinger surfaced, tarnished and unemployed. After completing NASCAR mandated drug counseling, he was allowed to return, and competed in several late-season races fo r the independent James Finch team in the Sprint Cup Series, after regular driver Kurt Busch, as expected, bolted for greener pastures.

Still, Allmendinger declined detailed interviews after his brief 2012 comback. Until now. New year, new Allmendinger.

“I went to bed at like 9:30 on December 31,” he told Autoweek. “I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to in 2012. I wasn't celebrating anything.”

This time last year, Allmendinger was, and certainly should have been, on top of the world. He had just competed successfully in Daytona's Kartweek, where hundreds of karters race inside and outside the speedway the week after Christmas. Based on interviews there, Autoweek published a preseason story titled, “Last Best Chance? A. J. Allmendinger knows his NASCAR reputation is on the line.”

Allmendinger, whose father mortgaged the family home three times to keep wheels under his only son, worked his way through the racing ranks, rising to a good ride with Forsythe Racing in Champ Car in 2006, winning five races and putting an end to Sebastien Bourdais' utter dominance. Red Bull, his personal sponsor, was starting a two-car NASCAR Sprint Cup team, and despite his lack of experience in stock cars, he slid into that very-visible seat the next year.

To quote from the Autoweek story last year: “It was a disaster: brand-new team, brand-new driver and new manufacturer (Toyota). He failed to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 and the next four races. Allmendinger was thrown into the deep end, and he nearly drowned. The 2008 season wasn't much better -- again, he didn't qualify for the Daytona 500. But for 2009, he joined the team that eventually would become Richard Petty Motorsports.

After his reinstatement, Allemdinger finished the season driving in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with car owner James Finch. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

“At times it was tough, especially the first three years, trying to decide if I'd made the right call to leave open-wheel racing,” Allmendinger said. “I mean, I knew I did, but there was so much that went into it. Just putting yourself out there every day and trying to learn; it was like living on a little island. But when Mr. Penske calls you and says, 'I want you to drive for our race team,' well, I felt like maybe hard work really does pay off. It was tough on the people around me, my family, my manager. They've been there with me, and they felt the pain. And it's because of them I'm still here, because there were times when I wanted to slit my wrists and say, 'I'm done.'”

Of course, then, Allmendinger had no idea he was closing in on a future where wrist-slitting might actually seem like a viable option. Even with Penske, the first half of the 2012 season wasn't fun: He had little chemistry with his team, even less with his overachieving teammate, Brad Keselowski, who was busy winning the championship while Allmendinger was struggling. Allmendinger was, and still is, going through a divorce with his Playboy-model-turned-chiropractor wife, Lynne.

Penske Racing is a tough, tense place to work under the best circumstances. Roger Penske doesn't demand the same work ethic from his employees as he demands of himself -- many who work for him wonder if he ever sleeps -- but his example is out there, and it's tough to live up to. Few drivers are as self-critical as Allmendinger, and his failure to excel with the best ride he has ever had was weighing on him. Momentum created by his win for close friend Michael Shank at the Rolex 24 was long gone.

But it's coming back.

The Rolex 24 with Michael Shank Racing is currently the only race on Allmendinger's 2013 schedule. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

“I'm excited to be back here, back at this race, and back with Michael Shank especially," Allmendinger said. "He's been like a big brother to me, particularly when I was suspended. He's not just a team owner, he's one of my best friends.”

That's another lesson Allmendinger, 31, learned during his suspension.

“You always know who your close, close friends are, and that didn't change," he said. "I think it made me closer to my parents, and to certain other people. You look at the racing community, at drivers and even reporters, and figure out which ones actually care, and which ones don't give a shit, they just want a story.”

There is an argument to be made that Allmendinger certainly didn't help himself -- that the handling of his suspension was a worst-case example of bad public relations. A central concern then was the lack of information: NASCAR wasn't talking beyond vague lawyer-approved generalities -- the sanctioning body's experience with driver Jeremy Mayfield and the endless legal battles over his drug-related suspension taught them the value of doing it by the book, in black and white.

But Allmendinger went radio silent, aside from some not-to-helpful comments from his business manager. With no one to counter the speculation, rumors were rampant, each one digging a deeper hole for Allmendinger to climb out of.

And though there is no official story, the accepted version of what happened is this: Allmendinger was out late with friends during the race weekend at Kentucky Speedway. He was not feeling well, and a friend offered a vitamin-like pill that would make him feel better. Apparently that pill was Adderal, a mild amphetamine commonly used to treat ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder. It is classified as a Schedule II drug, and as such is prohibited by most sports sanctioning bodies without a doctor's prescription, and the sanctioning body's subsequent approval.

NASCAR's random drug testing policy is far more aggressive than many suspect -- one driver might be tested a half-dozen times a year or more, thanks to a random draw. That week, Allmendinger's name was chosen. He was tested and failed -- exactly why, he says, he didn't know, but for NASCAR, it was enough to pull him from the car at the next race: The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway July 7.

For more than a month, there was little word, official or otherwise, on exactly what Allmendinger had done wrong. His career sank more with every passing day.

Had he spoken out earlier, “I don't think it would have changed the outcome,” Allmendinger said. “Roger has a strict policy and that was never going to change. NASCAR wasn't going to change what they did.

“But I was also trying to figure out what was happening, too, so I didn't want to come out and say a lot of 'I don't knows,' and have people think, 'He is friggin' lying.' Once it did come out, and I learned what had happened, it was on me. I figured I'd talk when I was ready. It's not going to change anything. You can't fix it. You just try to move forward.”

That is what he is doing. Allmendinger has never looked or sounded better: There's a new and sobering maturity mixed in with the enthusiasm familiar to those of us who covered him during his Atlantics and Champ Car days, always leavened with quick, sometimes dark, self-deprecating humor.

Even so, sometimes, Allmendinger said, he has to look hard for a good reason to get up in the morning. He'll go to the gym, get through by 10:30 a.m., then what? Golf, sometimes, or going to a friend's deli and helping make sandwiches (J.D. Rockers Subs and Salads in Huntersville, N.C. -- “JD Rockers hits right notes for flavor, fun,” says the Charlotte Observer): “It's good to have a second career,” Allmendinger said.

Because right now, the Rolex 24 is the only race he has on his 2013 calendar. “I definitely want to get back to the Cup series -- I have a lot of unfinished business there. This was not the way I want to go out. But I'm also open to any opportunities in sports cars, Indy cars, Cup, Nationwide, trucks -- I've learned, especially over the last couple of years, that you never automatically say 'no' to anything. Anything can happen in this world.

“I can't take it back. Nobody is going to say anything to me that is going to hurt, because it's already out there. I can't hide anything. And once those walls come down, you have to stand there as a person and look at yourself every day. The good news is, I'm here, my race car is fast, and I have a chance to win this thing.

“Maybe I'll just win the race and retire -- if I had done that last year, 2012 would have been pretty good.”